GLIDED DECEPTION

CHAPTER 1: AVERY'S POV

There's something about noise and anxiety, the steady rhythmic tapping of foot, the cracking knuckles or tapping fingers on a desk, or even the whirring of a ceiling fan ahead, as in my case. It made me nervous, anxious, fidgety and jumpy, the sound was a slow descent to the impending doom.

And no, I am not pregnant or diagnosed of cancer, I'm just moving____"Avery darling, could you please check on the chicken?" Came my mother's voice from the dinning where she was busy laying out table mats and fancy Chinese food. It did smell great, I just lacked the appetite for it - or any other meal for that matter.

All I wanted that morning was to talk and my mother was not making it any easier by deciding to practice fine dinning on the same morning. I bit my lips and suppressed a curse, it was not a topic I was going to enjoy for sure and she was not making it any easier for me. But then, I could not drag it any further, I had to talk to her that morning, nice breakfast or not.

I opened the oven and served the perfectly roasted chicken, dragged a chair and sat, looked at her as she rubbed her hands together excitedly, eager to receive her guest, a guest I wasn't sure I wanted to meet again.

"Mum, we have to talk," I said as she wiped the glasses with a paper towel. "Yes darling, is this good? I feel a wine glass would be better but then, it isn't quite wine so that's__"

"Mum!" I snapped and she twirled to face me, she must have seen the look on my face and decided I was serious, she slowly sat and stared at me curiously.

I breathed in deeply and then said it, "I'm leaving for New Orleans." Better to get straight to the point.

My mother, Stella looked at me like I'd lost my head or an eyeball. "New Orleans?" She asked, her tone skeptical. I nodded and she frowned.

"It's okay if you need to clear your head, I know you've not really had a break since graduation, it's been you running the business the whole time, you need a vacation, but I'd say somewhere more fun, maybe Paris? That's if you saved up for that," she muttered the last part under her breathe.

I sighed heavily, the conversation was going just the way I wished it didn't and I knew it would not end well if I didn't wrap it up. "I'm not going for some vacation mum, I'm moving out, for good." I stated.

The shock was clearly written on her flushed face, she opened her mouth twice and closed it both times, wordlessly. "I know I didn't discuss this earlier and I should have but, I was making plans and__" I tried to explain but she cut me in.

"Like hell you didn't! You can't just spring up this on me, that's not fair, I let you have time for yourself, I don't give you curfew do I? So what's wrong with here? Huh?" Stella asked, visible upset.

"Mum, it's not about you and here, I just, I just feel like I have to do something more, something different, I've been here all this time and trust me there's a lot I need to do with my life, I'm not a kid anymore," I tried to explain, "Then don't act like one!" She retorted and dropped the fork, making it clank noisily and making me jump a little on my seat, this was the part of wasn't looking forward to.

"Listen mum, I know this is sudden but trust me it's for the best, I need my own place, I need to start my own life and let you have yours back, I've been sending out applications and I think New Orleans might be it for me," I stated, trying to see if talking it out would be any help.

"Really? Let me have my life back? How could you say that? You're not a burden, I love you, you're my daughter and I want you around, you have to get a job before you move out, this isn't the time for you to play independent." She stated with a look that said she didn't even trust me to take care of myself.

"I've been saving up a little, I had a good job before they downsized, I can do this, I need to and you know it, I should have done this before college but then, I didn't want you to be alone after dad, but now, you've moved on and I think I need to move on with my life too," I said, staring at anywhere but her face which was reddening in anger.

Stella looked at me for seconds and then exhaled, rose to her feet and went back to wiping her glass with the discarded paper towel.

"You know I have a guest today, I was hoping you'd meet him and... but you know what? Never mind, I'm sure we'll do just fine," she said with a wave of her hands and a tight lipped smile.

I rose up and went to her, "Mum, I swear I didn't mean this to hurt you, I can't keep living here, I'm grown up, I need to start my own life and if I keep hanging around Los Angeles like you suggested, if I get my own place here then I will always know you're here and frankly that isn't what moving on is." I tried to explain to her.

"I understand," she said even when she sounded like she did not, nodded her head and wiped her already clean fingers.

"You won't be meeting him then." She said and I inwardly sighed, trying my best not to roll my eyes. It was some Jerry or Jimmy or Jason and I had met many of him in the past, her numerous new boyfriends.

"You don't want to meet him do you? Is this about Jimmy?" She asked and began to get defensive, telling me how different he was, like I hadn't heard that about the others too.

"No mum, it isn't about Jimmy, it's a life choice I have to make," "Right now? Why now? Look if this is about Jimmy, he has a place and he'll only be here when I want him to, he won't be in our space, I promise Avery" she argued, I knew I had to put my foot down, my case was already packed upstairs in my room and I had no intentions of meeting Jimmy who would no doubt become another mistake in less than two months.

"My flight's in less than an hour mum, I don't want to miss it." I said conclusively and I could see her face fall. Yeap, I'd braced myself for that too.

This was not my first trip to New Orleans, or my second, it was actually the third. I'd been here once to see my best friend, Lindsey and again for a seminar, now I was here for good, or so I hoped. I was eager to put my Economics degree to good use and Lindsey promised there were firms and jobs here more than home. Or maybe that was her trick for wanting to be near me. Since she'd moved to New Orleans, she's always been on my neck to come too, well, now I had little choice.

"Hey! Sorry I couldn't come get you at the airport, there was a crazy rush at the cafe and I couldn't leave Minny to handle it alone, I'll make it up to you, I promise." Came the voicemail as I turned on my phone. Yeah, it was typical of her to always make it up to me, frankly, I wasn't really expecting her at the airport, it was a Saturday morning and there would no doubt be a rush at the cafe.

I rang her twice and it both went to voicemail, I was ready to flag down another taxi and I heard my name being hollered from the left, I turned and there, there was Lindsey and she hadn't aged one day since I met her over a year ago, video calls not included, I envied her beauty sometimes.

"Oh Avery! Finally! New Orleans beholds thee!" She yelled dramatically and caused a few heads to be turned my way before she got out of the car and came around to help me with my bags into the trunk of her old Kia, she hadn't changed it in over three years and I was surprised the car hadn't fall apart, but then , it was Lindsey and she knew how to take care of things like that.

"Hey Lindsey," I replied with an eye roll, helped shove the last duffel bag into the back seat which was already overflowing with her stuff and then got into the front seat.

"Please don't tell me you're mad about there airport, I swear I could not leave that place and go back to see Minny in on piece, those thirsty zombies were gonna rip her apart," she said and made a face, yeah, drama, she was just drama itself.

"No, it's fine I needed the stroll, that flight was a little cramped up for me." I said and then rubbed my neck, it was still sore from when I slept awkwardly hours ago.

"Sorry hun, that's what you face when you fly economy, don't worry, now that you're here, you can wow them with your mathematics awesomeness and we'll be going first class pretty soon." She said and winked at me. I smiled.

Lindsey was my number one fan, she was always telling me what I could do and how well I'll live if I just put my degree to good use. Well, her own degree at NYU was probably in a box somewhere in her apartment, she'd made it clear from the start that college was not for her, she just did it for her parent, her dream was to start a restaurant and be a chef, well, she was going up that ladder no matter how slowly, now she had her own cafe after managing it for six years and she could grow it from there, I on the other hand had nothing to grow and nothing to manage, I was hoping she was right and New Orleans would change that.

"Damn, you look good, what did you do with all that bones?" She asked, teasingly. Yeap, I had added a few extra weight since I lost my contract job and Netflix and Oreos become my companion.

"You always said I should get some flesh, that's what real men want right?" I joked back, "Hell yeah! Men don't hate no business with bones, that's for boys!" She hollered outside the car and drove off, towards her Cafe.

"Trust me I have no idea how I gained this much weight, a little popcorn here and Snickers there and boom," I said seriously and frowned, I didn't appreciate the way my hip was bursting out of my jeans, I liked my slimmer self better, what I love though was a cleavage, it was out there now and I could use it with all my v-neck blouses.

"Well, whatever, you know me, I take flesh anytime and trust me you look hot, look at you." She said and poked my cheek, smiling like a proud mother. I just shook my head and smiled back, her bubbly personality was infectious.

As I sat there, thinking over my weight and when to register at the nearest gym, my phone vibrated in my pocket and slightly slouched to pull it out, it was my mum and I sighed, I wasn't ready to speak with her just yet.

"It's your mum?" Lindsey asked like she read my mind, I nodded, I wasn't eager to have the conversation with her, maybe later when I had settled. Just as I was musing over it, my phone vibrated again, this time it was a text, one that knocked the breathe out of me; 'Come back home, I need you, please help me'. it read, I stared at it, panic rising in me, did my mum have an accident? Was I about to lose her?